Summer Music Series

Sponsored by Bangor savings bank

Join us for this year's Summer Music Program - starting June 6th and running through August 29th.

Bring your lawn chair, or use one of ours, this concert is open to all ages and we hope it moves you to get up and dance!

As always, the concert will be moved inside to the Atrium in case of Rain.

We look forward to seeing you! Don't forget to stop by the library for your free bookmark with the entire summer schedule!

June

KICKOFF: Wednesday,June 6th - Sentimental Journey

Genre: jazz

Sentimental Journey first gathered to rehearse in the Vestry of All Souls Church in the spring of 1995. They played their first dance there on 31 August: a small band for a small audience. There were about thirty people dancing. The band had four saxophones, two or three trumpets, a couple of trombones, a bass player, a guitar and piano. They were well received and invited back for a second dance on 18 November. By that time, the band had a baritone sax and a much larger audience.

On almost every Wednesday for 23 years this band has rehearsed from 11:30 until 1:30 at All Souls Church. From small beginnings they have attracted musicians, men and women, from around the region who give freely of their time and talent to play “big band” music. The have become a bigger band in the process.

The band has played dances regularly in Castine and Brewer. They’ve traveled to Deer Isle, Ellsworth, Old Town, Millbridge and Caribou. They’ve played numerous Bangor venues: All Souls, Beth Israel, Capehart (with over a hundred dancers), Cascade Park, the Library, Bangor Theological Seminary, the Waterfront, Morgan Hill Event Center and Husson University where students recorded the band at the Gracie Theater. They like making music and seeing people enjoy themselves. Occasionally they make enough money to pay for their travel!

Oscar Davis, a trombone player, was the band’s first impresario and leader. Since 2000, Silas Yates and Don Menninghaus, both trombone players, rehearse, lead, supply new music and arrange bookings for the band.

Tuesday, June 12th - The Bangor Band

Genre: Concert Band

Established in 1859, The Bangor Band is one of the oldest continuous community bandsin the United States. Our rich history includes two tours of duty during the Civil War: firstin 1861 as the Second Maine Infantry Band being mustered out in 1862, and then as the 14th Maine Regimental Band from 1865 until the war’s end. The Bangor Band’s busy 19th century venue included playing at political rallies, torchlight processions, picnics, lawn parties, steamboat excursions, quadrilles, and then as now, the popular yearly Summer Concert Series.

Today, under the direction of Curvin "Chip" Farnham, we continue that yearly tradition of Tuesday summer concerts at 7:00 at Bangor’s Waterfront under our new band shell, as well as at the Bangor Public Library and the ever-popular Chapin Park Block Party. In keeping with the Band’s patriotic tradition, we participate in the Memorial Day and 4th of July parades andperform a yearly concert at Cole Land Transportation Museum on Veterans’ Day. With a repertoire of marches, light overtures and Broadway selections, we complete our busy schedule with indoor performances in November with our Autumn Concert, at Christmas and in the spring with our annual Members Memorial Concert.

June 20th - Hampden Academy Rhythm and Blues Project

Genre: Rhythm and Blues

The Hampden Academy R&B Project is a student group of musicians led by Pat Michaud. The group has been in existence for 5 years and performs at concerts and festivals. They have performed for the Maine Educator’s All-State Conference and regularly perform the State of Maine’s Poetry Our Loud competition.

Click on the following links to watch this group on Youtube. #1 and #2

Wednesday, June 27th - October Gold

genre: Acoustic Alternative/Folk

October Gold, an acoustic alt-folk duo based out of Montreal, is the latest collaboration of singer/songwriter Kit Soden and his partner in music (and life), violinist Aliza Thibodeau. This marriage of Soden's folksy roots and Thibodeau's classical sensibilities has created a unique sound that has been described as "painting your imagination with song."

Since 2010, October Gold has been quietly captivating audiences across North America and Europe. The release of their first album, Into the Silence, showed the depth of sound the duo had developed in such a short period of time, apparent as well in their recent follow-up.

Aside from the noticeable chemistry between these two emerging artists, October Gold has managed to bring together a collection of brilliant musicians during the recording of their albums. Over 20 different instruments came together to create the mythical symphonic sounds of Into the Silence, resulting in a combination of powerful orchestral emotions and knee- slapping, hoe-down riffs.

October Goldʼs 2013 sophomore album, Bridge of the Sun, makes use of this rich, fully orchestrated sound, as well as the talents of author Steven Erikson. The albumʼs lyrics are derived from poetry scattered throughout Eriksonʼs best-selling series, ʻThe Malazan Book of the Fallen.ʼ A concept album, Bridge of the Sun walks the line between imagination and reality, holding a special connection for Malazan fans while still standing on its own as an independent collection of songs.

October Gold has been hard at work this past year creating their new self-titled EP, recorded and mixed at McGill University, where both artists received training. The EP features the harmonies and lyricism that the couple is known for, and the beautiful poetry of Archibald Lampman and Thomas Moore.

October Gold continues to tour North America and Europe, and released October Gold - EP in November 2015.

For more information about October Gold visit their website or find them on Facebook.

July

*There is no concert the week of July 4th

Wednesday, July 11th - The Silver Duo

(Indoors in the Lecture Hall)

genre: Cello & Piano Duo

Noreen Silver was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Her musical studies were nurtured in a family that appreciated artistic endeavor, and intellectual achievement. After studying at the Royal College of Music in London, Noreen spent a year in Geneva, Switzerland, studying with the great cellist Pierre Fournier. Later, a Rotary International Fellowship enabled her to study at the New England Conservatory, where she met her husband, pianist Phillip Silver.

Noreen’s performing career is centered around the cello/piano duo that she and Phillip formed while students. The Silver Duo has given live and recorded broadcasts on BBC’s Radio 3, the Israel Broadcasting Authority, Swedish National Radio and NPR. They have presented most of the standard cello/piano repertoire – and much of the non-standard repertoire – in concert halls in London, Prague, Frankfurt and Jerusalem. In addition to the duo repertoire, Noreen’s love of chamber music is evident in the many performances she has given, as a member of Israel’s Van Leer Trio – which was awarded the Israel Prize in 1990 for best performance of an Israeli trio – and more recently, in Orono, of Ravel’s Piano Trio, Schubert’s Trout Quintet, George Crumb’s Voice of the Whale, Webern’s transcription of Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1, and Shostakovich’s Seven Romances on texts by Alexander Blok. Noreen is also featured as soloist in recently released CDs of Chamber Music by Leone Sinigaglia and Bernhard Sekles on the Toccata Classics label in London. Since moving to Maine in 1999, Noreen has established a reputation as a fine teacher. Her students have been prize winners and finalists in the Arcady competition and the Bangor Symphony High School concerto competition, and several have gone on to study cello at prestigious institutions such as Oberlin and Peabody Conservatories and the Longy School of Music. She is currently principal cellist in the Bangor Symphony and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Maine, teaching cello and chamber music.

Phillip Silver is an internationally acclaimed solo and collaborative artist. The Frankfurter Rundschau described his playing as “virtuosic,” Haaretz commented upon his “…superb technical ability that enthralled the audience with melody, lyricism and poetry,” while the Boston Globe called him “an international collaborative pianist of the first rank,” and the Jerusalem Post described him as “a superb accompanist whose work is marked by sensitivity, felicity of style and an inborn musicianship which unerringly directs him to the most appropriate musical gesture.” Phillip has performed in many of the world’s leading concert halls including the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Wigmore Hall in London, the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow, Scotland, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Germany, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and the Henry Crown Theater in Jerusalem. Over the course of his career he has performed with many distinguished artists including Denes Zsigmondy, Jian Wang, Elmar Oliveira, Albert Markov and Alexander Markov. Phillip has also been a member of the Van Leer Chamber Players in Jerusalem, the Rachmaninov Trio in the UK, and the Silver Duo, a long established ensemble with his wife, cellist Noreen Silver. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Phillip studied with Katja Andy and Leonard Shure at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where he earned the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Music cum laude. He also earned the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Washington for his research into the music of Ignaz Moscheles. Along with a significant number of performances, recordings and broadcasts for national radio in the United States, Britain, Israel, Europe and Scandinavia, Phillip has recorded several Compact Discs for the German Koch/Schwann label. These include a recital of German Romantic Lieder with the Israeli soprano Cilla Grossmeyer, and a recording of 20th century Russian piano trios as a member of the UK based Rachmaninov Trio. A world premiere recording of music by an Italian-Jewish victim of the Nazis, Leone Sinigaglia, was released on the Toccata Classics label in Spring 2010. Participants included cellist, Noreen Silver and violinist, Solomia Soroka. Phillip’s most recent recording, a CD of music by the German-Jewish composer Bernhard Sekles was released in February 2013 on the Toccata Classics label in London. Maria Nockin reviewing this recording in Fanfare magazine commented upon the “brilliantly played fireworks from the pianist” while Steve Arloff writing in MusicWeb International described it as “a really valuable discovery” marked by “flawless playing.”... “thoroughly deserving to be heard by every chamber music lover.”

Wednesday, July 18th - Andy & Judy Daigle

Genre: folk singers/songwriters

New England natives Andy & Judy Daigle have been singing together since 2009. They began writing songs in 2011. Today, this talented folk duo performs regularly at coffeehouses, festivals, libraries, and stages where they have been featured artists, openers and headliners blending their growing list of original songs with popular folk covers. They tour through New England, the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Great Lakes Regions and have been featured on popular folk music radio programs. Their third album, Follow Your Dream, was chosen #1 Top pick for 2015 by Four Strong Winds, KVMR Nevada City, CA

Andy & Judy do a masterful job of involving the audience in their performances. Sing-a-longs and smiles are the norm at one of their concerts. Their close harmonies blend Judy’s evocative alto and Andy’s deep baritone. Beginning instrumentally with a classic folk guitar base, Andy & Judy have deepened their sound through the addition of mandolin, banjo, piano, harmonica, ukulele, and with support musicians, bass, violin and percussion. The instrumental complexity presented on their four CDs, Riverbend, Dragonfly, Follow Your Dream and This Old Town, support the increasing lyrical depth of their compositions.

Even though their songwriting style has its roots firmly planted in traditional and folk music, the influences of country, gospel and blues can be heard in their songs. Historical people, places and events are common themes. Their songs are carefully crafted and performed so that the listener experiences all of the emotions woven into their music.

Judy is from southeastern Massachusetts where she was introduced to folk music at an early age through her mom’s Peter, Paul and Mary records. She started guitar lessons at age 6 with the hope of joining her church folk group. A few years later she stopped playing guitar and joined the school choir. When she started performing with Andy she went back to the guitar and added piano, mandolin, and ukulele to the mix.

Andy was born in Maine and spent most of his youth in upstate New York, where he grew up listening to folk and church music while traveling with his family before eventually settling in the Boston area. He has taught himself to play guitar, banjo and the harmonica.

Wednesday, July 25th - Retro Rockerz

Genre: Old Time and classic Rock ' Roll

They're fun, they're fabulous, they're...sixty-somethings ! The RetroRockerz have played family-fare style rock n' roll in Eastern Maine since 2005. They play the great good-time music of the 50's, 60's, and 70's - the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival...It's a great time for everybody. Check out the song list, photos, and music.

For more information about Retro Rockerz visit their website or find them on Facebook.

August

Wednesday, August 1st - Jonee Earthquake Band

Genre:Rock

The Jonee Earthquake Band plays a variety of surf instrumentals, rock-a-billy, and Jonee's own tongue-in-cheek compositions.

More information about the Jonee Earthquake Band, visit their website or find them on Facebook.

Wednesday, August 8th - Panstorm

Genre: steel drums

Panstorm is a steel pan program in Hermon, ME. The bands include students from the elementary, middle & high schools as well as adult pan players.

Wednesday, August 15th - Six Basin Street

Genre: female dixieland

Six Basin Street is an all-women Dixieland Band formed in 1991 and playing in Maine since 1992. Our main goals are to have fun and share the joy of music, as well as share our skills and improve ensemble playing.

The band's name come from a tune in our original playlist, "Basin Street Blues," which has remained a favorite through the years.

Wednesday, August 29th - Battle of the Bands Winner

Summer Reading Program Finale - Battle of the Bands! If you’ve got musical talent, we’re looking for you! The Bangor Public Library is holding its first-ever Battle of the Bands! Performers may be a solo artist or a band. The Library is looking for all varieties of music. Cover songs, original songs or both are welcome. This competition is open to Middle and High School students in the greater Bangor area. Winning band/artist must be able to perform a one-hour show for our Summer Music Series. If you are a solo artist, the only requirement is that you play an instrument to qualify for competition.

How to send in submissions (we need a good quality video or audio submission): Google Drive (recommended) Drop Box Selected applicants only will play in our Battle of the Bands. Winner takes home the Grand Prize: a one-hour performance in our BPL Summer Music Series. Judges scoring will remain anonymous and their word is final! Send in your submissions by May 25, 2018. Winners will be notified on the day of Summer Reading Program Kick-Off, June 25th!